SOCAR to commission oil refinery in Turkey in 2017
By Aynur Jafarova
Star oil refinery of Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR, which is under construction in Turkey's Izmir city, will be operational in 2017.
The news was announced by SOCAR's vice-president for refining David Mammadov in his recent interview with SOCAR Plus journal, Trend Agency reported.
He noted that SOCAR Turkey Enerji has acquired some 62 percent share in the Turkish Petkim petrochemical complex since 2008;. The complex is composed of factories for production of high and low density polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, ethylene glycol, purified acids, aromatic hydrocarbons, ethylene, propylene, hypochlorite, vinyl chloride monomer, phthalic anhydride, terephthalic acid, and other products.
The holding has a leading position in Turkey's petrochemical products market, and SOCAR takes sequential steps for developing its petrochemical assets, he said.
"The construction of a new Star refinery with an annual capacity of 10 million tons has started in order to optimize demand for raw materials and reduce the amount of fuel imported to Turkey. The refinery is planned to start operation in 2017," Mammadov noted.
The Star refinery will be capable of refining oil grades such as Azeri Light, Kirkuk, and Urals.
Some 16 billion cubic meters of gas will be produced in the Shah Deniz Stage 2 development and exported to energy markets. This figure will be increased by one billion cubic meters per year.
Estimated at $5.5 billion, the refinery is mostly intended for creating a resource base for the chemical company Petkim Holding. It will contribute significantly to the region and country's economy by creating job opportunities and increasing competitiveness.
SOCAR to increase number of gas stations in Romania
CEO of SOCAR Romania Hamza Karimov said in an interview with SOCAR Plus journal that the number of gas stations, operating under the SOCAR brand in Romania, will increase to 100.
He noted that 20 gas stations are currently operating in Romania under the SOCAR brand.
"One of the main tasks ahead of us is to bring the number of gas stations to 100, thus covering the entire territory of Romania," Karimov said.
SOCAR entered the Romanian market in 2011 by acquiring a 90 percent share in Romanian Romtranspetrol, owned at the time by Iulian and Doina Berescu.
SOCAR is the only producer of oil products and has two refineries on its balance sheet. It also has automatic gas stations in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, and Switzerland.